Friday, March 7, 2014

March 7, 2014 (CNN) Ukrainian security officials are
complaining that unknown attackers are interfering with the mobile phone
services of members of Ukraine's parliament, making difficult political
decisions about what to do about Russia's incursion last week into Crimea that
much harder.

The head of Ukraine's security
service said on Tuesday, "I confirm that an IP-telephonic attack is underway on mobile phones of members of
Ukrainian parliament for the second day in row."

This is reminiscent of the
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on Georgia that preceded Russia's
invasion of the country in August 2008. The attacks shut downseveral websites of Georgia's government
including the president's. While the Kremlin denied any involvement, Georgian
officials accused Russia of being behind the attacks.

This article was written by Peter Bergen who is
CNN's national security analyst, a director at theNew America Foundationand the author of "Manhunt:
The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden - From 9/11 to Abbottabad."Tim Maurer is a research
fellow at New America focusing on cyberspace and international affairs.